


Familiar Longing

by Amariahellcat



Series: The Things We Have Yet To Remember [3]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Female Apprentice (The Arcana), First Kiss, Flirting, Julian Devorak's Route, Memory Flashes Are Going to be a Trend, Named Apprentice (The Arcana), Teasing, garden scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 07:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30018381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amariahellcat/pseuds/Amariahellcat
Summary: This should feel fast, but it only feels like finally.
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak
Series: The Things We Have Yet To Remember [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2196972
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Familiar Longing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [savbakk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/savbakk/gifts).



“Is that bite still bleeding?”

Adrenaline is still pumping from their mad-dash from the guards and her fall into the water, but she’s calmed down enough to think mostly clearly - trailing further into the garden after Julian, trying to see if the bloodstain is still spreading.

_Hoping_ that it’s not, because knowing he bled for her, _willingly_ , is already making her feel all sorts of funny ways.

Julian spins from where he’d been inspecting a statue to grin at her, brow raised. “Are you _worried_ about me, Ada? You needn’t be - perfectly alright, see?”

He spreads his arms wide - cursing when he knocks into the statue and nearly sends it toppling, earning a flat look from the magician.

“Perfectly alright, you say?”

“Reflexes notwithstanding…” Julian coughs, flustered for a moment, before his expression slips back into the confident one she’s begun to recognize, “Really, it’s fine. Just a bite, nothing I can’t handle.” his gaze flicks to her shoulder suddenly, mouth quirking into a smirk, “Ah, hold still, Ada.”

“What-?”

Ada goes still when he reaches forwards, hand brushing just past her cheek - plucking a flower from her shoulder that she hadn’t realized was there. _It must have fallen from the trees…_

Vivid blue with star shaped petals - there’s something tugging at the back of her mind, a familiarity to the plant.

Julian is still watching her with that smirk, twirling the flower between his fingers, offering it to her after a moment.

She reaches for it, a memory flashing at the same time as he pulls it back, wincing at the shock of pain.

_“-careful with that, it’s a deadly poison when distilled. Shouldn’t hurt you to touch it, but don’t ingest it!”_

“Careful, Ada. There’s poison in those petals.”

Ada blinks back to herself, squinting down at the flower for a moment.

“...Deadly starstrand?”

Julian looks surprised, and then almost delighted. “Correct, my dear! Your knowledge astounds me. A single drop of poison distilled from this flower could kill a babe in its crib. It’s killed tyrants and kings, innocent and guilty. It could topple entire _empires_ with a careless hand.”

He glances down at the flower, then back at her, offering it again with another grin, “Knowing all that we know… do you still want it?”

“It won’t hurt me to _touch_ it.” she takes the flower, fingers brushing his as she does, and tucks it behind her ear, “Makes me wonder what the purpose of this garden was, though.”

“Ah, perhaps we had a poison dealer in the city? It’s fallen into such disarray, I’d say it’s a safe assumption the flowers are little more than hidden beauty, these days.”

Julian is looking around the garden as he speaks, something off in his tone, and she wonders again if the bite isn’t still bothering him.

“Are you alright, Julian?” they’d only met… what, two days before, now? Yet she feels like she can read him, like something is off, “You’re acting weird.”

That catches him off guard, eye snapping back to hers and cheeks flushing red under her stare. “W-what? Why would anything be wrong? I’m _perfectly_ fine, Ada. No, no, I’m _better_ than fine. I’m _fantastic_.”

Julian’s expression softens again, hands coming up to catch hers as he takes a half-step closer - and that overwhelming sense of _familiar_ hits her again, of safety and longing and _home_ that’s been creeping up the last few days, anytime he’s been near.

Ada doesn’t remember most of her life - nothing beyond waking up at the shop, 3 years prior. And Asra had never mentioned her knowing Julian… and surely _Julian_ would have said something, if he’d known her…?

_So why does he feel so… safe?_

“After all, here I am, in a beautiful garden with _you_ , Ada. Who wouldn’t be delighted by such wonderful company?”

His words make her snort, even as her heart pounds, a headache lurking as memories try to force their way through whatever lock holds them back.

“Flatterer.” Ada mumbles, trying not to be distracted by the way he’s running his thumb over her knuckles, or the _soft, open_ expression on his face, “Look, I just… I know I thanked you, but it doesn’t feel like _enough_. You got seriously hurt because of me, and then the _Guards_ -”

Julian stops her with a finger against her lips, mouth quirked. “Trust me, Ada, better I hurt in your stead. Besides… you’re _much_ more fragile than I.”

Ada laughs, startled and amused by the jab - going willingly when his grip on her hand shifts, drawing her in close against him, head tilting up as he leans down.

_“-which of us is more physically fit, my dear?’_

_“I don’t know, Doctor, which of us can throw fireballs?”_

_“...well, touche, but-”_

“ _Careful_ , Ada,” it’s a whispered warning, lips just barely brushing hers as he speaks, “The guards might hear you.”

Ada shivers, warm tingles spiraling out from where he’s barely touching her - his thumb now caressing her cheek and tilting her head up more, lips caressing hers more firmly as she sighs.

This doesn’t feel familiar… but it feels like something she’s wanted for a long, _long_ time, and the confusion only adds to the jumble of emotions in her mind, heart racing.

This should feel fast, but it only feels like _finally_.

Julian sighs against her, lips moving as though to say something - and then he stiffens at the sound of guards beyond the Garden, pulling away from her.

“Right on time, huh?” he mutters, scowling, “Let’s get out of here, Ada - I have a place we can hide out.”

“We could go to the shop?” she blurts, only half-thinking as he grabs her hand and pulls her quickly back towards the gardens entrance.

Julian shakes his head. “Too far, they’ll have caught us by then. No, I have somewhere closer in mind. Don’t worry, you’ll _love_ it.”

Ada only tightens her grip on his hand and follows his lead, lips still tingling from his touch.

**Author's Note:**

> Life is shit, have some more Arcana fic. Dedicated to my lovely friend Sav who requested this scene, I hope you like it Sav ♥


End file.
